In 1992, Newsweek quoted Elizabeth Tamposi saying a U.S. State Department colleague acting on behest of the White House asked her to dig up information on Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton.

In 2001, U.S. commandos were on the ground in southern Afghanistan in the search for al-Qaida leaders and more than 250 U.S. and British special-force troops landed north of Kabul.

In 2002, the White House and the FBI backed off from a warning that al-Qaida was plotting "spectacular" attacks against the United States after critics latched onto it to show progress in the war on terror was faltering.

In 2003, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a Democrat, was elected Louisiana's first female chief executive in a runoff.